This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-003101, filed Jan. 11, 2011 which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that discharges ink from a recording head and radiates electromagnetic waves to the ink placed on a recording target medium such that the ink is cured by chemical reaction.
It is assumed herein that the recording apparatus includes an ink jet printer, a line printer, a copy machine, a fax machine, and the like.
2. Related Art
In the related art, as described in JP-A-2005-104108 and JP-A-2004-314304, an ink jet printer includes a recording head and an ultraviolet radiating section disposed around the recording head. In the components, the recording head includes a nozzle that discharges ultraviolet curable ink onto a paper sheet.
The ultraviolet radiating section is disposed at the same side as the recording head with respect to the paper sheet.
FIG. 7 is a front cross-sectional view showing the relationship between a recording head 41 and an ultraviolet radiating section 43 in the related art.
As shown in FIG. 7, a printer 40 of the related art includes the recording head 41 and the ultraviolet radiating section 43. In the components, the recording head 41 is disposed to discharge ultraviolet curable ink 45 from a nozzle 42 onto a paper sheet 46 supported on a medium supporting section 47. Further, the ultraviolet radiating section 43 is disposed close to both sides in the movement direction of the recording head 41. Further, the ultraviolet radiating section 43 can integrally move with the recording head 41. When the recording head 41 moves while discharging ink 45, the ultraviolet radiating section 43 at the rear side in the traveling direction cures the ink 45 by radiating ultraviolet rays 44 onto the position where the ink 45 lands on the paper sheet 46.
However, since the ultraviolet radiating section 43 is disposed close to the recording head 41, some of the radiated ultraviolet rays 44 reflects from the surface of the ink 45 and the reflecting ultraviolet rays 44 may hit the nozzle 42 of the recording head 41. In this case, the nozzle 42 may be clogged by curing of the ultraviolet curable ink 45 in the nozzle 42. Further, although JP-A-2004-314304 proposes a configuration of disposing a guard between a recording head and an ultraviolet radiating section such that reflected ultraviolet rays are blocked by the guard, the surface of the ink is not necessarily flat, such that the reflecting ultraviolet rays undergo diffusion reflection. Therefore, it is not sufficient to just dispose the guard.